India on Thursday imposed an immediate limitation on the import of laptops and personal computers, adding that any organisation or corporation wishing to import laptops and computers for sale in India will need to apply for and get a « Valid Licence for Restricted Imports ».

Notably, brands like Apple, Lenovo, HP, Asus, Acer, Samsung, and others have been impacted by this announcement. They will need to immediately stop importing these devices for the Indian market.

The government’s motive for this instruction appears to be encouraging a move towards higher domestic production, as a substantial share of laptops and personal computers in India come from Chinese manufacturing or assembly. This is similar to the successful approach used in the industry of making smartphones.

The notice read, « Import of Laptops, Tablets, All-in-one Personal Computers, and Ultra small form factor Computers and Servers falling under HSN 8741 shall be ‘Restricted’ and their import would be allowed against a valid Licence for Restricted Imports. »

However, the import limitation is likely to result in a rise in the cost of laptops, computers, MacBooks, and Mac Minis in the short term—or at least until businesses apply for and receive special permissions to bring laptops into India.

The costs of the present laptops that are on the market will rise, even though the implications of the import limit on laptops won’t be obvious for a few days. This is due to the fact that the import ban will inevitably lead to a market shortage in the short term. In other words, there will be less supply and a higher demand.

Up to 20 products per consignment may be imported without a license for research and development, testing, benchmarking, evaluation, repair and return, and product development reasons, according to PTI.

Can laptops be purchased abroad and brought back?


One laptop, tablet, all-in-one computer, or ultra-small form factor computer may be brought into India without import restrictions by visitors who travel overseas. Items purchased via e-commerce websites and delivered by post or courier are excluded from the rule.